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08 Jun 2015

5 Ways to Develop Your Business With Gerber’s E-Myth Philosophy

The “Entrepreneurial Myth” or E-Myth is a business ideology born into existence by Michael Gerber. The notion behind E-Myth is that too many entrepreneurs fail because they get caught up spending most of their time involving themselves in the technical aspects of their business and next to no time actually managing and strategising for growth.

Gerber states that by developing a business that can essentially run smoothly without your on-going involvement enables you to focus your time on making management decisions, developing strategies towards further growth and greater success.

So how can this approach to your business be applied in a new business to help you take a step away from daily operations and towards focusing on the bigger picture?

1 Specify The Roles Within Your Business

When you start up a new business it’s easy to find yourself involved in every aspect of the organisation from production to marketing, admin and all points in between. In order to alleviate this then it can be good practice to delineate specific roles within the company which can be taken on by trainees, employees or out-sourced so that you don’t have to spend time being the jack of all trades and master of none.

When setting up Showcase Creative in 2007 alongside my business partners we created different departments for different roles, such as finance or sales and marketing, with the aim to have a recruit fill each role so that we could move away from the operation to focus on management.

2 Recruit & Train New Staff

Having staff in place to take on the different jobs and responsibilities involved in the technical and day to day running of the business is a key aspect of E-Myth thinking. With trusted staff members, trained to meet the specifications of their role carrying out the different jobs then it means that you, as the owner, don’t have to; freeing you up to actually manage the business overall and develop the strategy and direction you want to take the business.

One area in which we developed this was through using apprenticeship schemes. With financial assistance available we could implement a training programme so that new staff were trained to the specs we required.

3 Set Out Standard Operating Procedures

Standard operating procedures can help with the smooth running of your business on a daily basis. Having clearly defined and written out processes and procedures makes training new staff easier and provides accountability for the business. It can also help staff on the ‘shop floor’ as a point of reference without need for you as the manager looking over their shoulder.

4 Manage Your Product Range

Keeping a handle on your product range can make for an efficient operation which, once you have implemented it, should be able to look after itself without your constant intervention.

By standardising your core range of products the processes and production can be more easily managed, helping with ongoing training needs and making for a smooth and quick turn-around of orders.

Of course this, as with all aspects of taking a more hands-off approach to your operations, relies on having trusted people in place. The best way to ensure that this is taken care of on your behalf is by placement of a good, well-trained manager. Having an experienced manager in place will help the business run that much smoother as he or she will be able to provide guidance, react to the inevitable issues that arise on a daily basis and deliver training to new staff

5 Implement a Robust CRM System

Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) systems can be the lifeblood of an efficiently run business. Investing in a reliable CRM system can take away a huge amount of the manual admin and management requirements involved with sales, marketing, orders and general customer relations.

This might include putting in place effective ‘sales funnels’ for your sales team, generating invoices or quotes or helping with overall account management as well as customer insight. Having such a system can deliver peace of mind that the fundamental operations of the business are being taken care of without the constant nagging need to get involved.

About the Author:

Paul Batey is a cofounder and director of Showcase Creative, a specialist printing company based in Camberley, Surrey.